2023 June 28th, Day 76 Portland back to the Hamble & the stats.

Leaving at 04:40 I had the engine off as I left the harbour for a good sail towards St Albans under the Cruising Chute in a reasonable WSW wind of around 11 knots, it dropped for a while so the engine went on for a couple of hours to get past St Albans to Anvil Point, the wind then came back and I sailed on to North Head where the tide changes favourable a little earlier than in the Needles Channel, as it happened I could have used either as I was a bit slower than hoped for - another boat went the other route and we took about the same time.

Powering along the North Channel towards Hurst. I had taken the main down before reaching N. Head buoy in case the wind increased (it did) and to avoid gybing it around Hurst Point, the next video will show why. As the wind increased I was motor sailing for safety with a reefed jib and going very quickly with the tide under me.

Rounding Hurst Point (it comes into focus after a few seconds).

As soon as I was clear of Hurst Narrows the wind dropped and I shook out the reef and turned off the engine for a pleasant run up the Solent in lovely weather only to be hit by a F6 wind off Calshot, I certainly couldn't get onto the mooring in that but it moderated as I passed Hamble Point Buoy.

I had to slow down for the Yarmouth to Lymington Ferry.

There is not a lot of room between the "protected" shipping lane
in the Thorn Channel and shallow water.

For the third time if four trips I arrived back to find someone was on my mooring! That boat's mooring was occupied by another so it looks as if it was a chain reaction. I managed to get onto a spare mooring but it was tight and difficult. I would have had significant problems getting out again single handed in anything other than still conditions and no tide so I called the manager and left it for him to sort out. 

It was particularly annoying as I had given warning I was coming back and asked that the mooring was checked - people have a habit of driving over these trot moorings and chewing them up if they are left empty for any period of time. The manager / owner who was overseas had been told the mooring was clear but they checked the wrong one, as a result they had to move at least three boats rather than one or two.

55 miles in twelve and a quarter hours.

Apart from getting rained on whilst escaping the boat, the trip home on Thursday the 29th was very lucky. The bus to Southampton was a little late due to road works but I made the train to Oxford with 3 minutes to spare without rushing on the walk to the station, that train was a little early into Oxford so I was able to walk straight onto a train to Bicester rather than, as has happened on every previous occasion, watching it disappear into the distance and waiting 30 or 40 minutes for the next. If the mainline train had not been as crowded (people standing much of the way) it would even have been quite a pleasant journey. 

The first trip to unload and clean up was delayed until the following week as it would be manic over the weekend due to the Round the Island race.

Some stats for this trip: 

• 76 Days.
• 421 hours at sea.
• 1,885 nautical miles (2,173 Statute Miles) over the ground. 
• 54 stops (some at the same place outbound and inbound).
• 22 places visited for the first time
• 11 days weather bound (much better than the last few years).
• 41 nights at anchor.

Summary 2017 - July 2023:

Includes some estimates of day sailing in 2017 & 2018 but the total GPS miles is the same as that recorded by the instruments. Excludes days on board when at the "home" marina or mooring.

Year	Days	Hrs at Sea	GPS N Miles	GPS S Miles	Days Sailing	Places Visited
2017	14	?	238	274	13	1
2018	46	?	1,559	1794	31	22
2019	49	485	2,282	2,626	41	26
2020	64	372	1,685	1,939	33	27
2021	115	652	2,744	3,158	70	66
2022	133	596	2,785	3,205	68	64
2023	79	421	1,888	2,173	52	54
Total	500	2,526	13,181	15,169	308	260

Wildlife

Initially I saw very little but things changed big time once I was west of Mull and there was plenty to see most of the the way home:

Whales:

Multiple sightings of Minke whales in:

The Sea of the Hebrides. 
The Sound of Harris.
The Little Minch.

 

one in The Firth of Lorn and two north of Islay.

Minke whale in the Cope Passage Sound of Harris

Orca pod in the Sea of the Hebrides.

Beluga off Newlyn 

Dolphins, a huge pod off Hawes bank in The Sea of The Hebrides, 2 large groups in the Celtic sea and good numbers elsewhere until east of Portland. 

Harbour Porpoise, at least a couple of sightings, one off SW Wales and one in the Firth of Lorn.

Seals, Common and Grey: The Sound of Mull, Loch Aline, around St Kilda, Vatersay Sound, Skye and a few elsewhere.

Sea Otters: Not as many as some years but 2 or 3 including one in the Sound of Harris.

Basking Shark: Off Vatersay and South Uist.

Rescues

I always hear a lot of calls for help being answered, this year things were fairly quite until I was on my way back then there seemed to be at least one every day, the Irish boats seemed particularly busy, including a couple of boat fires - always a potential disaster. 

On occasion I saw at least some of the action, including:

• The Skerries IRB on a shout to a vehicle off a harbour wall.
• The Dublin IRB iirc to a paddle boarder.
• The Angle relief AWB to a disabled yacht.
• The Angle relief AWB to the PS Waverly for a med-evac.
• The Penlee AWB to a diver with the bends.
• The Lizard AWB saving a fisherman from the water assisted by the Angle AWB.